Half of Welsh public in favour of change to ensure equal gender balance in Welsh Assembly

In our latest opinion poll for Media Wales, a representative sample of the Welsh population was asked whether they thought the system used to elect members of the National Assembly for Wales should be changed to ensure that an equal number of male and female Assembly Members are elected.

Just over half of Welsh adults (53%) would like to see the system changed, with 25% answering ‘yes, definitely’ and 28% ‘yes, possibly’. Just over a third (36%) do not want to see any change, however, and 11% answered ‘don’t know’.

Women and younger people are most likely to be in favour of change to the electoral system to ensure an equal representation of men and women in the National Assembly for Wales. Six in ten women (60%) want to see a change to the current system compared with 47% of men, while 65% of 16-24s said yes to the idea compared with 53% of people overall.

Those in the DE social grades (that is, semi and unskilled manual workers and those not in work) are much more likely to be in favour of a change to the current system than those in the AB social grades (that is, those in higher or intermediate managerial, administrative or professional occupations). Almost six in ten of the former (58%) said yes to the idea compared with just over four in ten (44%) of the latter group.

Men are more likely to be against any change than women, with 43% of men interviewed saying they don’t think the current system should be changed compared with 29% of women. Just over half of those in the highest AB social grades (52%) are opposed to the idea, much higher than the Wales average of 36%. Older people (aged 55+) are more likely to be against a change than other age groups, with 39% saying no to the idea, compared with 33% of 16-34s and 34% of 35-54s saying that.